April 30th – Letter “Z”
Day 29 – And now for our (optional) prompt. Today, I’d like to challenge you to take one of your favorite poems and find a very specific, concrete noun in it. For example, if your favorite poem is this verse of Emily Dickinson’s, you might choose the word “stones” or “spectre.” After you’ve chosen your word, put the original poem away and spend five minutes free-writing associations – other nouns, adjectives, etc. Then use your original word and the results of your free-writing as the building blocks for a new poem.
My favorite poem is by Robert Frost called “Dust of Snow”.
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
April 29th – Letter “Y”
Day 28 – And now for our prompt (optional, as always). Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem using Skeltonic verse. Don’t worry, there are no skeletons involved. Rather, Skeltonic verse gets its name from John Skelton, a fifteenth-century English poet who pioneered the use of short stanzas with irregular meter, but two strong stresses per line (otherwise know as “dipodic” or “two-footed” verse). The lines rhyme, but there’s not a rhyme scheme per se. The poet simply rhymes against one word until he or she gets bored and moves on to another. Here is a good explainer of the form, from which I have borrowed this excellent example:
Dipodic What?
Dipodic Verse
will be Terse.
Stress used just twice
to keep it nice,
April 28th – Letter “X”
Day 27 – And last but not least, here’s our (optional) prompt! Many poems explore the sight or sound or feel of things, and Proust famously wrote about the memories evoked by smell, but today I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that explores your sense of taste! This could be a poem about food, or wine, or even the oddly metallic sensation of a snowflake on your tongue.
Taste of Dahi Puri!
Oh, my mouth is salivating,
On hearing the name of the dish,
To try the famous Indian snack, you wish…
April 27th – Letter “W”
Day 26 – And now for our (optional) prompt! Have you ever heard someone wonder what future archaeologists, whether human or from alien civilization, will make of us? Today, I’d like to challenge you to answer that question in poetic form, exploring a particular object or place from the point of view of some far-off, future scientist? The object or site of study could be anything from a “World’s Best Grandpa” coffee mug to a Pizza Hut, from a Pokemon poster to a cellphone.
Discovery of Jukebox!
The archaeologists of 5011 AD,
Found a box of mystery,
A smile and jig of victory,
The “Jukebox” is their discovery.
April 26th – Letter “V”
Film – Veera Madakari (2009)
Language – Kannada
Genre – Action Comedy
Written by – Sadhu Kokila
Director – Sudeep
Producer – Dinesh Gandhi
Music Director – M. M. Keeravani
Cast – Sudeep, Ragini Dwivedi
Day 25 – And now for our daily prompt (optional, as always). In 1958, the philosopher/critic Gaston Bachelard wrote a book called The Poetics of Space, about the emotional relationship that people have with particular kinds of spaces – the insides of sea shells, drawers, nooks, and all the various parts of houses. Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that explores a small, defined space – it could be your childhood bedroom, or the box where you keep old photos. It could be the inside of a coin purse or the recesses of an umbrella stand. Any space will do – so long as it is small, definite, and meaningful to you.
Secret Cabinet!
That little space as I recall,
The secret cabinet in the closet,
Which is near to my heart,
Holds special memories of past.
Views Of Preethi B 